Analysis of Competitive Environment and Value Chain of River Island

Business Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction to selected organisation..........................................................................................3
Background information of River Island....................................................................................3
Competitive environment of River Island by application of Porter's five force analysis...........4
Analysis of inbound and outbound logistics and operations.......................................................6
Analysis of support activities in porter's value chain of company..............................................7
Identification of main value adding activities along with justification.......................................7
Understanding of porter's value chain and porter's five force analysis.......................................8
Reflection on the way firm could deploy information technology and utilize innovative ideas
to enhance its business processes and competitive positioning..................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is defined as the design and execution of networks of computer
for communication and information processing. It is the traditional computer applications which
involves storage of data and programmes in order to input data, process and output it (Alyousef
and et. al., 2017). This report is based on River Island which is a high street fashion brand
business headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The company was founded in year 1948
and offers clothes, accessories and footwear for men, women and children. It is very necessary
for an organisation to analyse its intrinsic and extrinsic business environment and evaluate the
role of IT in gaining competitive advantage. For analysing this, the report covers brief
introduction and background information of company with discussion of its products and
services. Analysis of competitive environment and inbound and outbound logistics and
operations of business are included along with two support activities in value chain of business.
The project identifies value adding activities of company and develops the understanding of
porter's 5 force and value chain analysis. At last, a summary and reflection on the way business
deploy IT and utilize innovative ideas to enhance its processes and competitive positioning are
included in report.
MAIN BODY
Introduction to selected organisation
River Island is one of the leading high street fashion retailer of London, United Kingdom.
It is one of the loved and well known brand of Britain. The company was founded around 72
years ago, in year 1948 and is operating its business activities in numerous markets all over the
world. It is a private company founded Bernard Lewis and Brothers and owned by Lewis Family.
There are around more than 350 stores of River Island across the Ireland, United Kingdom and
internationally (Avgerou and Walsham, 2017).
Background information of River Island
River Island is a well known fashion brand of London and develops affordable everyday
real life, distinctive and luxury fashion for any kind of occasion. This high street fashion brand
retailer has more than 350 stores in a Middle East, Asia, Ireland, Europe and United Kingdom,
alongside its 6 online websites shipping to more than 100 countries all over the world and
operating in 4 currencies (About River Island, 2020). Its head office is situated in London and

employs around 900 employees. Variety of products and services are offering by company for
the people who love fashion and customers come to its stores as they like the twist company put
on trends. It offers range of fashion clothes, footwear and accessories for children, men and
women (Bryson, 2017).
River Island is a designer brand that focuses more in bringing innovation in its products.
The unique touches in collection of company assist it in standout from the remaining high street
brands. The firm aims to bring original and new fashion to customers with good design. Initially,
the company started its business by selling vegetables and fruits and knitted wool. Then, the firm
expended to 9 stores after the 3 brothers of Bernard Lewis joined and the title Lewis separates.
By year 1965, the chain had seventy store empire in United Kingdom and the firm decided that it
needed new identity. Then, it was re-branded by the name Chelsea girl which became the very
first fashion boutique chain of UK. In 1970, the business was left by two brothers and Lewis
Trust Group was formed. In year 2010, kids wear collection was launched by River Island and it
launched RI Baby in 2018 to expand kids wear offering. Now, the company operates its
functions and activities successfully in many countries all over the world (Busse, Meinlschmidt
and Foerstl, 2017).
Competitive environment of River Island by application of Porter's five force analysis
In order to analyse the competitive environment, porter's five force analysis is an
appropriate framework which is utilize by company. Application of this model helps in exploring
the environment in which firm perform its business operations. It includes five main key areas or
forces which are discussed below in context of company (Byrne and et. al., International
Business Machines Corp, 2017).
Bargaining power of buyers: This is the force which analyse power of customers and
their impact on quality and pricing of a product. If there are few customers and numerous sellers,
then it becomes easy for buyers to switch to another company. In fashion retail sector of United
Kingdom, the power of buyers is relatively high as there are many fashion retailers available in
market which offers clothes, footwear and accessories to customers which makes it easy for
customers to switch the brand. So, the power of buyers is high for River Island however, by
offering high quality and unique products to customers at similar prices makes it easy for
company to sustain in market for long term and attain competitive advantage (Bytheway, 2017).